1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a lighter, and more particularly to a utility lighter which is capable of igniting a torch flame at a distance from the lighter casing.
2. Description of Related Arts
A conventional utility lighter comprises a lighter casing having a fuel storage chamber for storing a predetermined amount of liquefied gas, a gas releasing valve communicated with the fuel storage chamber for releasing the liquefied gas when the gas releasing valve is uplifted, a flexible extension tube extended between the lighter casing and the ignition nozzle, an ignition nozzle provided at the top end portion of the extension tube, a piezoelectric unit, and an actuation button. The piezoelectric unit comprises a main body, a depressible part movably extended from the main body, and a spark generating tip extended from the main body to the ignition nozzle via the flexible extension tube, in such a manner that when the depressible part is depressed, a spark will be generated at the spark-generating tip for igniting the utility lighter.
The operation of this conventional utility lighter is as follows: when the actuation button is depressed by a user, the actuation button is arranged to depress the depressible part of the piezoelectric unit to produce a spark at the spark-generating tip, and simultaneously uplift the gas releasing valve for releasing the gas at the ignition nozzle. Thus, when the gas is ignited by the spark, a flame is produced at the ignition nozzle for igniting a desired object.
There exist several disadvantages in relation to this kind of conventional utility lighter. First, the lighter flame produce by the conventional utility lighter is vulnerable to wind. Unfortunately, however, utility lighters are frequently used in outdoor environment. Thus, when the utility lighter is used in a windy environment, the flame may go out very frequently and this presents an inconvenience scenario for the user of the conventional utility lighter.
Second, for conventional utility lighters such as the one described above, the flame is a regular lighter flame which is oriented in an upward direction irrespective of the orientation of the extendable tube. Thus, when the user needs to ignite something which is not aligned with the orientation of the flame, he or she has only two solutions to solve the problem. First, he or she may manually turn the lighter casing such that the orientation of the lighter flame matches with the target object. Although this may solve the particular problem at hands, there may well be circumstances that this solution cannot work at all. For example, when the users need to use the utility lighter in a confined area, he or she may not be able to turn the lighter casing very conveniently. Second, instead of using a utility lighter, the user may use a torch (a windproof) lighter for igniting the target object. However, the problem for this particular solution is that for conventional windproof lighters, the flame ignition nozzle is so close to the lighter casing that the user may not be able or desire to place the lighter casing at that position. For example, when the user needs to ignite a stove, he or she definitely does not wish to put the lighter casing, and most importantly, his or her hands, too close to the stove, for obvious safety reason.
Third, since the distance between the ignition nozzle and the gas releasing valve of conventional utility lighter is fairly long, there exists the possibility that when the user stops igniting the lighter, residual gas retained within the gas tube connecting the gas releasing valve and the ignition nozzle will continuously flow out from the gas tube via the ignition nozzle. In such scenario, residual ignition at the ignition nozzle nevertheless persists even though the user stops igniting the utility lighter. This is dangerous.
A word about the conventional windproof lighters. For most of the conventional windproof lighters, they have not been designed to support prolonged ignition. Thus, there is little, if any, measure which has been employed to prevent the high temperature of the torch flame from transmitting to the users' hands and the respective lighter casing. As a result, although in many circumstances, a torch flame is preferred, the conventional mechanical structure of conventional windproof lighters is such that the user may not wish to use them for their specific purposes.